Recruiting Report: Baden Noennig (2019)
Mayer Lutheran forward Baden Noennig knows a little something about meeting expectations. He led his team to the state tournament this year navigating a tough section and schedule, and now he’s playing like a top 25 2019 in the state with the Minnesota Comets.
Mayer Lutheran had to get through BOLD, Cleveland, and Springfield – three top Class A teams – just to get to state. No team had to go through anything like that to get to state last year, but the Crusaders did it. Sure they lost to eventual champ RTR but it was a memorable year. Now, the Baden takes the Crusaders forward.
“I am very excited for my senior year, and I can’t wait to get back on the court with the Mayer squad,” Baden explained. “Although we lost a lot of key players from last year, I think we have a lot of young guys with experience that are going to step up and fill their roles.
“Also, we have some strong players coming in this year that couldn’t/didn’t play last year. Our team motto for this year is “unfinished business,” and it fits my goal for this team. We came close last year to winning it all, but this year I want to take it one step further by winning a State Championship.”
Baden led Mayer Lutheran in scoring (18 a game), rebounding (7.5 a contest), blocks, was second in assists, second in field goal percentage, and third in steals, and this was on a talented team. Baden has more ahead though.
“Before my senior year, I want to improve as a player in many different ways,” Baden explained. “First, I am working to put on some weight/muscle so that I may become bigger and stronger. This will allow me to finish through contact and become a more physical player.
“Next, I want to continue to improve my outside shooting so that it is almost automatic. Finally, I will be working on increasing my speed and quickness so that I may blow by my defender off the dribble, and become a more solid defender.”
Baden wants to play college basketball and he has an NSIC offer from the U of Mary so far plus there are a few places that he’s visited.
‘There have been a variety of schools that have been in contact with me,” Baden said. “These schools include Cornell, North Dakota State, University of Mary, Minnesota State University, Upper Iowa, St. Cloud State University, Southwest Minnesota State University, Concordia St. Paul, Bemidji State University, University of Sioux Falls, Dakota Wesleyan, Jamestown, St John’s University, and Gustavus,” Noennig listed.
“I have already attended two school visits at St. Cloud State University and Concordia St. Paul. I also participated in the SCSU elite camp as well. I am planning on visiting more schools and attending a lot more camps.
“I will be visiting the University of Mary because I have been offered a scholarship to play basketball there, and also Upper Iowa, and Dakota Weslayan. I will also be attending camps at SMSU, University of Sioux Falls, and Cornell.”
The visits left a strong impact on Baden as he enters important times of his recruiting calendar.
“I liked that they were both close to home,” Baden stated. “I felt very comfortable at St. Cloud and Concordia St. Paul. St. Cloud because we hold a lot of our Comets practices at their gym, and I have become close with some of their coaching staff.
“Concordia St. Paul was also comfortable for me because I have played a lot of games in that gym whether it be for grade school, or the State third place game against Cass Lake Bena. I enjoyed both my visits and hope to continue looking at more schools.”
The many, many schools that Baden listed will be watching him in St. Cloud this weekend at the Great Plains Alliance. This is a weekend that the Comets are very excited for.
“So far this season we’ve been playing a lot of tournaments without all of our guys. These last four tournaments starting with the GPA tournament, we will be back to full strength. My goal is for our team to win out the rest of our tournaments. It is going to be tough to do, but we have a lot of skilled players on the team who are willing to grind games out to the end. I am excited to see how the rest of the summer turns out.”
The year has produced a lot of quality memories for Baden so far.
“I have enjoyed playing with the 17u Comets Elite so far this year, and have made many memories. One of the memorable games was when we knocked off Martin Bros earlier this season. Another top moment of mine was at Wayzata High School when we played Fury. I was off on a fast break and rose above a defender and dunked on him for an and one. Although we lost that game, it was still a close match-up.”